The Wife of Athos
by Mari Knickerbocker
Summary: Everyone knows that in one point in time Athos had been married to Milady, they also know how well that turned out. Yet no one knows who the mother of his son Raul is, what of her? This is the story of their meeting and eventual love affair. movieverse


**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately, for me, I do not own the movies _The Three Musketeers _or _The Man in the Iron Mask_. (Well the rights to these movies, I do own the DVD's) It would be so awesome if I did but I do not. That being said everything from the movies, such as plot, characters, and what not, does not belong to me. What does belong to me is everything completely unfamiliar to you.

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**The Wife of Athos**

"_Lisette! Lisette wake up! I have something important to tell you." A young girl exclaimed in an excited whisper, jumping onto the bed next to the form of her once sound asleep friend._

"_Sabine why can't you let me sleep?" The seven-year-old girl murmured, sounding very unhappy at being so rudely awakened._

"_Lisette you can't sleep, not right now! I have something_ very _important to tell you." The exuberant nine-year-old continued breathlessly._

"_What is it Sabine?" Lisette asked rolling over in bed while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes._

"_I have had the most marvelous dream Lisette, and I know that it will come true!" The blonde child said with a gleam in her blue eyes that Lisette had never seen before. Even at such a young age, Sabine already showed the promise of great beauty._

"_I will marry a Count and what's more I shall love him!" Sabine proclaimed. To Lisette it sounded like the girl was making a promotion. She shivered under the coverlet and did her best to hide the involuntary reaction. Luckily, Sabine was not paying attention to the younger girl, but staring off into space daydreaming about her Count. _

"_Love? What about adventure Sabine?" Lisette asked her attention fully captured in spite of herself._

"_Love is enough of an adventure for a woman."_

"_Well not for me Sabine, I want something more." _

_Sabine sighed and rolled her eyes at her friend's declaration. She stared at the younger girl remembering what she had over heard her mother say on quite a few occasions. Lisette was the exact opposite from Sabine, where Sabine was blonde and fair Lisette was dark and mysterious. Sabine was enthralled with the fairytales of young princess rescued by handsome knights and Lisette preferred more practical things, such as horsemanship and other things unsuitable for a girl. The two friends were often mistaken for sisters but they were far from that._

"_Mother's right Lisette, you would be better off with a woman's influence in your life." Sabine announced. _

"_What!" The younger girl exclaimed sitting up suddenly. She moved so quickly and so unexpectedly that Sabine jumped and almost fell of the bed._

"_Mother says that you are full of all sorts of unsuitable ideas for a proper girl to have. Mama says it's because a man, and a Musketeer at that, raised you! Papa says it is a shame that you were not a son. He says that you would have made a better son than you do a daughter." The nine-year-old said parroting what she had overheard her parent's saying. She was completely unaware of the pain she had caused her friend by telling her those things. By now, Lisette's face was burning with a mixture of anger, pain, and humiliation._

"_Just you wait Sabine! My father will send for me one day soon, and I will be in Paris the daughter of a Captain in the King's Musketeers and one who is close to the King himself! Then I will no longer have to stay here and live off your family's charity." With that, Lisette turned over and tired to settle herself for sleep._

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Lisette woke with a start, confused by what would cause her to dream of that particular exchange between herself and her old childhood friend. Lisette had not thought of Sabine for years, not since she had learned of her marriage to some count. Even before that, Lisette had lost interest in her friend particularly when her father had arraigned for her to live with him in Paris.

Paris had been all she had dreamed it would be and more. Lisette had been reunited with her father, finally, and that was reason enough for her to fall in love with Paris. What is more is that her father resumed her instruction in the art of fencing. It was an activity that Lisette loved with a passion inappropriate in a girl child. Sabine's father had been right about one thing, Lisette would have made a better son than daughter. Raoul had always wanted a son but Lisette's mother had died in childbirth and Raoul refused to remarry. Therefore, Lisette, who possessed the fortitude and courage any man would be proud to see in a son, became both a son and a daughter to the Musketeer.

Raoul use to joke that his daughter at the age of ten and laced into a restrictive bodice could give him a better practice duel than another Musketeer. Many were forced to admit that for a woman her skill with a sword and daring in a duel, even a practice one, was remarkable. However, many of his fellow Musketeers disapproved of Raoul teaching his daughter how to handle a sword, but they were willing to indulge Raoul's idiosyncrasies. He was a fine Musketeer, well liked, and well respected. Lisette was all he had left and they all knew how deeply effected he had been by the sudden death of his wife. They also realized that his forced separation form his daughter for three years during one of King Louis XII's many campaign's had been unbearable for the normally stoic Musketeer. Besides Lisette was a charming child and even the King found her amusing referring to her as _la petite _Musketeer. Although the Kings' fondness for the child could steam from the fact that her mother had been a cousin of his.

All that changed, however, after the King's assignation. Raoul no longer flaunted his daughter's skill with a sword and _la petite _Musketeer was soon forgotten. Now years later with her father dead and Louis XIII on the throne, Lisette found herself at loose ends and still longing for adventure.

Due to the nobility of her mother's birth Lisette had been give a position within the king's household. Her place was not exactly clear officially she was one of Queen Anne's ladies in waiting but for the most part Lisette was left to her own devices. The queen had enough of a confidant in Constance and although the three of them were close friends, Lisette often preferred to be on her own.

She turned restlessly in her bed trying to get back to sleep but, still, completely unnerved by her dream. After an hour or so passing with her lying in bed and staring up at the ceiling, Lisette was forced to conclude that she would not be sleeping in today.

"Oh this is useless." Lisette said aloud irritation laced throughout her voice. She tossed the coverlet aside and launched herself out of bed. Her bare feet hit the stone floor and the coldness of the stone helped to chill her temper. She paced back and forth for a few moments before she decided to don the set of man's clothing she owned. She would spend her day roaming the city as a common 'male' citizen. Perhaps she would go visit Musketeer headquarters, or even have a picnic behind the Luxemburg that would give her the perfect opportunity to catch up on her reading. That decided Lisette went about preparing for her day.


End file.
